Consider Diligently what is Before You

1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,

2And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.

3Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.

4Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.

5For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.

6Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,

7For as he hath thought in his soul, so [is] he, ‘Eat and drink,’ saith he to thee, And his heart [is] not with thee.

8Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that [are] sweet.

9In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.

10Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,

11For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.

12Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.

13Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.

14Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.

15My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,

16And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.

17Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But — in the fear of Jehovah all the day.

18For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.

19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,

20Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,

21For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.

22Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.

23Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,

24The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.

25Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.

26Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.

27For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.

28She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.

29Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

30Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.

31See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.

32Its latter end — as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.

33Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.

34And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.

35‘They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake — I seek it yet again!’